A Lover's Ink
by TheYoungAlcoholic
Summary: AU. One's love can be just as binding as a permanent mark. A love story witnessed through a different POV.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** This story will be just a short two part episode. It was half inspired by TLC's, _Miami Ink_, and the other half by my new best friend, insomnia. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gundam Wing or the TV show, Miami Ink. What I do own is the concoction of a plot that putting these two things together have made.

A Lover's Ink

**Part 1**

I watched helplessly as another gorgeous blonde slyly placed her hand along his thigh. Her palm touched just lightly, seductively, and her manicured nails on the tips of long fingers curved upwards. The inked needles currently puncturing her skin stopped briefly. The babe only looked up innocently from her position on the padded table and giggled. The mood always seemed to be just right for her 'types'; laid out before him, just the way he wanted them. But in reality, never truly wanting them.

Not long after that did she commence her next stage of attack, doing exactly what all the others desired to do. She began stroking his thigh. Now her fingers curled a bit and her nails made contact, as if trying to claw through the material of his blue jeans. Each brush kept going farther and farther up until he finally ended her dreams, just like with all the others. He grabbed her hand roughly. A look of pain suddenly wiped off her silly smirk as he practically threw her hand back at her. And just like all the others, the remainder of the job was left in silence.

Good Lookin' sullenly left the shop after paying, leaving my business partner, Heero Yuy in a state of agitation. He violently pulled off his latex gloves and hurled them into the little trash can by the corner. I jumped, not by surprise but more by reflexes, as he kicked his chair out of his way and into my direction. Customers looked startled at the sudden commotion as they moved against the wall and out of Heero's way. I was just about to shout at him, but he had already stormed out the door.

He's been like this for sometime now. Of course the constant flirting had always been the same, but it just seemed to really get under his skin this time. He usually tended to ignore them. To say that it's bad for business wouldn't be a lie, but it isn't necessarily a problem either. So he treated some of them a little coldly…Okay, so he does treat them coldly, but that doesn't stop more and more from coming in.

Don't mind if I say so, but my partner and I have the best shop right here in Miami. That's right, Heero Yuy and I, Duo Maxwell, are the best tattoo artists Miami has to offer. Most of our work can be seen on mostly everyone around here. Business is good, whether or not he scares the ladies off. There will always be others who'll try their best to seduce him, and each one will always fail.

And that's because there has always been someone else. Someone else that has captured him into a bliss of joy and pain.

I heard a bell ring as Heero reentered the shop. He seemed to have blown off his steam as he calmly proceeded to clean up his work space and prepare for his next client. Wrappers were tossed into the trash and he quietly picked up his chair from its lopsided position as if nothing had just happened. He slipped on a new pair of latex gloves and grabbed a package of sterilized needles from a drawer on the bottom right of his station. Although he made no motion for his client to join him, the next young woman practically bounced to his side, bubbling with giddiness. I watched him pay no attention to her whatsoever while thinking back to a couple months ago.

_Our last customer of the day quickly scattered out the door. I heard the bell 'cling' as she exited from behind me. I removed my black latex gloves with a snap and spun my chair around to face him, ready to launch out a sarcastic remark that seemed to fit the current situation. His head was buried in his hands, clenching his chocolate locks while leaning over the front desk. It had been another hard day that ended with another beauty trying to take him in her grasp._

_He straightened up his back, grabbed his denim jacket and walked right out the door. I knew he was just going to stand around for a smoke, so I decided to join him. The air was cool; not too humid. I could just catch a glimpse of a couple of stars above me, and far off into the distance I smelled a sweet aroma of grilled Cuban food. Miami was beautiful out tonight. I made a mental note to share it with my wife when I got home. _

_Heero just stood there on the sidewalk against a nearby streetlight. One hand held onto his jacket draped over his left shoulder, while the other removed the cigarette from his mouth as he exhaled. We just stood there in silence for a little bit. I felt content just standing there watching him, trying to figure out what exactly he was thinking…But I got tired of that pretty fast. With my personality, I can't stand silence. And being best friends with Heero made that difficult._

_I had to shatter the stillness somehow, so I asked him what he was thinking about. Of course I got no answer; he just continued smoking. I asked him if he was going to say anything at all. Again, no answer. Frustrated, I threw my hands up in defeat. I told him how I would just go home and spend the rest of the night with Hilde, and turned to get my things back inside._

_And then he finally spoke._

_He called out my name. I was almost surprised to hear his voice. I looked back over my shoulder, leaving the door halfway open. He looked at me with that straight expression he always carried. His dark blue eyes were just so hard set. It was a typical Heero thing, but what he said next shocked me. _

_He mentioned a girl. Another puff of smoke filled the beautiful night as he brought the cigarette back to his lips. I closed the door and faced him. Heero and I have been best friends for a long time, and never in our long years of friendship did he ever talk as much as he did that night about her. We stayed out there for half an hour or so as he told me all about her. _

_Her name was Relena Peacecraft. She was the daughter of an aristocratic family in Europe and was spending the summer helping an international medical program with their nurse shortage. They accidentally ran into each other one morning on their way to work; the local medical center wasn't too far from Heero's apartment. So by an odd twist of faith, they met each other every day and slowly began to grow to attach on one another. _

_Just seeing the light shine in his eyes as he talked about her led me to believe that this was one special woman. Of course every man believes that their girl is one special babe, but watching Heero as he talked about her was different. I silently admired this lady for turning a lifeless robot like Heero into something more…human. If anyone could accomplish that, hell, if a woman could do that to my pal, then she was indeed a 'special woman'._

_She had the ability to read him like an open book, as he referred to it. He hated it, overcome with defeat of believing that he could hide himself from anyone. Her warm personality conflicted with his more reserved one and it puzzled him when he began to feel a need to be around her. Eventually, he admittedthat he enjoyedbeing within her presence. It felt as if her very existence made him become a better humanitarian, and he never wanted her to leave him._

_Suddenly, I began to notice a decline of light that once shown so brightly in his eyes as he continued on about her. Pretty soon I felt overwhelmed by the hint of loneliness in his vibe. I was beginning to understand the reason for it, but what made it more awkward was my nagging feeling that Heero was beginning to realize the reality of the situation the same time with me. Her biggest pleasure in life was to help people, and his was free-style fighting. She had soft toned skin, while he was covered in tattoos. Heero never had to go into full details since I could pretty much picture everything by myself. The two were total opposites, breaking the rules of attraction, but couldn't help falling in love._

_She had left earlier that morning to return home. It was back to her ideal world where she seemed to fit best at, though he spoke as if denying those words. I asked if he had given her a proper good-bye. He exhaled another breath of smoke and smirked at me. He mentioned that she had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I grinned. That's my boy._

_I watched him pull his cigarette out of his mouth and look at it for a moment, so spiteful. He glared at its now tiny form. He told me how she understood his passion for tattoos, but tried reasoning with him over his well being. He threw the bud on the ground and stepped on it hard. It was then that I realized that that was the first time I had seen him smoking in a long time. He truly was in love with this woman._

_He straightened up his body and put on his jacket before returning his attention to me. I waited in silence for awhile longer. It felt sort of strange after hearing him go through an actual conversation for once in his life. And as if this night couldn't get any weirder, he shocked me once more with the next comment out of his mouth, only this time I could feel the tinge of remorse in his words._

_He told me how…'nice' it must be to have someone to love you._

_I don't know why, but I told him that she hadn't stopped loving him. It just felt so true and right to say it, like I knew her personally just from his descriptions._

_I watched him stiffen before taking off in his car, leaving me to close up the shop._

The memory vanished as quickly as it came when I heard someone calling out my name. I looked up to see a middle aged, muscled-toned man standing before me. Ah, my next customer, willingly to allow my artistic creations plaster itself on his body.

I patted the chair next to me and told him to take a seat. I spun around in my own chair and grabbed a pair of gloves. With a snap they fit right in and I proceeded to attach a new set of needles into my tattoo machine. I looked to my left and saw Heero mentally analyzing where to apply the outline for the tattoo. His expert precision was a direct hit, as always, but he didn't say a word to the sexy brunette occupying the chair next to him. She batted her eyelashes in a love-sick kind of way as he applied the stenciled drawing of a fairy on her lower back. And like always the man was as cold as ice.

I looked at my own client and scrunched up my nose, hopefully discreetly as I gazed upon his naked chest. Why was I always left with the muscled, hairy guys? If Heero wasn't willing to accept the ladies, I would gladly replace my clients with his. I sighed and began placing my own stencil of a skull on the man's right shoulder.

It seemed that business in our tattoo shop was following the same routine day in and day out, but all of that changed a week later when an unsuspected visitor dropped in.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Here is the conclusion to my short, two piece episode. I was amazed at how many reviews I got and would like to thank each and every one of you for your interest in this idea of mine. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **This was half inspired by TLC's, _Miami Ink_, and the other half by my new best friend, insomnia. I don't own any of them nor do I own Gundam Wing. What I do own is the concoction of a plot that putting these things together have made.

**A Lover's Ink**

**Part 2**

Wiping away the excess marks of color and sanitizing her tender flesh, I told the brunette lying before me that she was finished. I watched as she got off the table to examine the flower pattern across her upper back in the mirror. Oh, how the moans and gasps she made were like music to my ears. She commented on how beautiful it was and winked at me through the mirror. I felt my cheeks redden. She had been my first lady in awhile. Another happy customer, another happy way of showing their appreciation.

She gave me a hug good-bye and then proceeded out the door, but not before giving my partner a flirty wave of her hand. Like always, Heero remained oblivious and continued gazing through our appointment book. The brunette frowned, but left with unsaid words. I, on the other hand, was getting sick of his constant cold-shoulder techniques. Even if our shop was popular, it wasn't good for business.

He just stood there, leaning over the counter, occasionally flipping a page. I threw my hands up in the air; my black, discarded latex gloves flew over my head. Being best friends with this guy was definitely hazardous to my health. I called out to him and asked if he had any intention of keeping the shop in business, or if he was just trying to grab a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest asshole on the planet.

His head finally raised from its cocked position and leveled his eyes with mine. He just stared at me for a moment in silence before mentioning that I had an appointment in five minutes, and then returned back to the book. I felt my face slowly dripping into a puddle on the floor. As of lately, my trademark grin was rapidly evolving into a gapping-mouthed zombie look. Hilde was kind enough to refer to it whenever I came home from work in a bad mood. At this point I was just too frustrated to come back with any cynical retort at the bastard. With a heavy sigh, I turned to clean up my station and prepare for my next client.

That is until I heard the bell above the door chime a couple seconds later.

My mouth hung open with astonishment and I nearly dropped my tattoo machine. She was an absolute beauty. Her honey-blonde hair cascaded down in a simple wave with a portion of it hanging over the left side of her chest. She had a face that was far better than any model I had ever seen with the brightest blue eyes. There was only one word that could describe her body, and that was curvy. The top few buttons on her white blouse were left undone, revealing some fair skin dipping down to her breasts. My eyes traveled further down and tried gazing through her baby blue skirt. The end of it whished and whooshed, back and forth gracefully around her knees until its momentum stopped. And her legs, damn were they sexy. I had almost forgotten I was married for a moment. Just for a moment.

I welcomed her and asked if she needed anything. She was definitely not someone I'd expect to see in a tattoo shop. She appeared just too delicate for a place like this. Maybe she just needed directions. Or maybe…I lost my train of thought as my eyes traveled back up her legs.

A crash suddenly brought me out of my daydreaming and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The cup of pens that were usually placed on the front desk were now sprawled all over the floor in porcelain remains. Heero had finally removed himself from our appointment book and was staring, in what I believed to be shock, at our newest arrival. The mess on the floor was no matter of questioning compared to what I was witnessing before my very eyes. To see any valid human emotion visible on Heero's face was scaring the hell out of me.

The two just stood there, gazing at each other until she smiled and finally broke the silence.

"Hello, Heero."

"Relena."

My eyes traveled the distance between the two at least five times until the light bulb in my head finally clicked on. A true genuine grin overcame my confused face as I finally figured it out. So this was the girl who was constantly on his mind. This was the love of his life. This was Relena Peacecraft.

I watched as the uneasy silence remained. At least now Heero had regained his posture and was standing tall, but Relena seemed to have found an interest in her white heeled shoes. The two stayed like that until he finally brought his hand up to drag through his unruly hair and asked how she had been. She replied that she was doing well and then asked him the same question. He said he was fine.

I wanted to throw my tattoo machine at his head for lying, but it's such a pretty machine.

I finally spoke up and stuttered that I was going to get a broom to clean up the mess. I turned and left the two for the storage closet in the back. All the while, I mused back to my memories on that night when Heero first told me about Relena. I couldn't help but feel glad for the guy. She had come back to him and all was not lost or dark again. Opening the closet door, I rummaged around for a bit until I found what I was looking for. I headed back to the front of the shop only to find that the stoic idiot and his gorgeous guardian angel had disappeared. It was only me for awhile until my 2:30 appointment walked in.

* * *

The rest of the day was crazy hectic. With Heero gone to who knows where, I was left to reschedule all of his appointments for that day. I realized that maybe I should have taken a glance at that appointment book every once in a while. Then I would have known how backed up we were for another four months. Consequently, I had to deal with the angry faces and impatient stares. The hardest, but not saddest, group of people that I had to turn down were the huge amount of babes that came specifically looking for Heero. It made me some what annoyed and disgusted that most of them probably weren't even looking for a tattoo, but more of an excuse to have him touch them. I overheard one girl talking with her friend how she planned on having him autograph her right breast and then tattoo it so that he'd 'be with her forever'. It took a great amount of root beer and my lunch to drown that out of my memory.

To say that I was happy to close the shop for the day was an understatement. It was a _relief_ when I finally got to turn off our neon 'open' sign for the night. Mumbling to myself, I grabbed the broom from the closet and began to sweep up the shop. It must have been a little after ten when my partner and his girl finally decided to walk back in.

I was just about to give him a piece of my mind but stopped when I saw him…smiling? Was he seriously smiling? No, it couldn't be. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't imaging it. The result had them nearly bulging out of their sockets. He really was smiling, and it wasn't just any ordinary smile either; it seemed…sincere. I sure as hell had never seen it before. And he was only smiling at her.

Seeing Heero smile was freaking me out. It was like watching Oprah tell her fan that she didn't give a damn about them and wasn't planning on giving away any free cars. The two just didn't fit.

The two finally noticed my presence and greeted me, unaware of my stunned expression. As if the smiling wasn't scary enough, I almost had a heart attack when he thanked me for taking care of his clients. Then Relena apologized for taking him away from the business for the day. Closing my gaping mouth, I shook the shock away and sheepishly smiled while rubbing the back of my head. I told her it was no problem and I was willing to help out my best pal.

Heero released Relena's hand, which I now noticed he was holding, and walked over to grab a pair of gloves, a clean set of needles to place in his tattoo machine, and black ink. I asked him if he had any late night customers that he didn't tell me about and he nodded. He told me that it was him.

He prepared everything and then to my surprise, handed it all to Relena. She sat down on his chair as he removed his black shirt above his head. I saw her blush slightly at his well toned chest and looked away. It amazes me how some women act all shy around things like that. It's not like it was anything she hadn't seen before, I bet.

Heero then laid down upon the table and instructed Relena on how to hold the needle and what to do. He called my name. I walked towards them and he asked me if I could help her on the procedures. I looked at him dumbfounded and asked just what he had in mind. Relena smiled at me and said that Heero had convinced her to give him a tattoo. I looked back at Heero, my eyes wide open. His eyes were focused on her with a gleam of what was it? Attraction? Love? Yeah, it was probably the latter. I smiled, my trademark grin had finally returned.

I winked at Relena and told her I'd show her the ropes. I realized that she was going to do it free hand. My Hilde did it once to me when she signed her name on my leg. Heero laid perfectly still as I got around Relena's back and held onto her hands, telling her how to hold it and demonstrating when to apply color onto the needle. I tried to ink a smiley face on his stomach, but Heero glared with that infamous death glare of his and told me to back off. Relena and I laughed and then I left the tattooing up to her.

I went back to tiding up the shop as the two love birds went about their business. The whole situation got me thinking about my own love. My marriage to Hilde had always been, and forever will be, a sure thing. To me, we just seemed perfect for each other. But Heero and Relena had the opposition against them. I looked over my shoulder and watched her devoted concentration exert its force within the movement of the tattoo machine. He seemed content and even relaxed underneath her creativity and precision. Just watching the scene unfold made me realize that, though every love is different, the rewarding outcomes were all the same. I believe in love, and I believe in them.

I continued my job cleaning up the shop, glancing over at them every once in awhile to see how things were going. No words seemed to be exchanged, but Heero was abnormally touchy.

I watched silently as he placed his hand on her knee, fingertips just tickling lightly against her cream colored skin. She turned pink and looked at him with a shy smile on her face. Taking that as his signal, he fully placed his hand on her thigh and let it inch higher and higher. Her skirt rose with each movement, revealing more and more desiring skin. She playfully slapped his hand away and whispered to him to stop it. His eyes never left her face as his hand laid still for a moment and then pursued again. Relena grabbed his hand sternly this time, but the playfulness in her eyes gave away her act. She whispered his name pleadingly and he smirked at his conquest.

Heero continued to watch her, and the light I saw a month ago returned, shining brightly in his eyes once again. Not once did he look at what she was creating on his chest. She could have been writing my name for all I know and he wouldn't have noticed. Finally I heard her announce that she was finished and told Heero to get up. He rose up from the padded table and walked before the mirror on the wall. Curiously, I tilted my head to get a good view of the ink through the mirror. I saw her art on the left side of his chest through the reflection.

It was a well drawn heart with the initials, 'HY' and 'RP' in the middle of it. And to finish it off, there was an arrow that shot through it. It wasn't very big, but big enough to send an impact in me. Her heart was placed right above his own.

She slowly walked around to stand at his right, both gazing in the mirror. Heero brought his arm up to wrap around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder while her arms wrapped around his bare waist. He returned her touch with a kiss on the top of her blonde hair. They just stood there in each other's embrace, gazing at the love mark that would always be there. Eternity is forever, and so is their love.

End.


End file.
